State’s Job Growth Continues to Lag

Of all the states in the nation, Connecticut was among those having the smallest increase in the number of jobs last month, according to Intuit’s April Small Business Indexes. The monthly report ranked Connecticut seventh-worst for job growth, with 0.06-percent change over the previous month. By comparison, the state at the top of the report’s list for job growth, Virginia, increased its number of positions by 0.3 percent between March 24 and April 23. States ranking below Connecticut are Tennessee, Louisiana, Illinois, Missouri, Massachusetts and Minnesota. The Intuit Small Business Indexes is a series of monthly reports that provides insight into trends centering on employment and revenue for small (fewer than 20 employees) U.S.businesses. Information is garnered from 225,000 Intuit Online Payroll and QuickBooks Online Payroll small-business customers. Among other findings for the April report are that small business employment grew by 0.12 percent last month; “professional and technical services” was the only sector to see a revenue increase (0.07 percent) on a per-business basis in March; and the average monthly pay of small business hourly employees in April was $2,741, a $2 increase over March.